Buried Alive
by xpiester333x
Summary: It had started with a slight quake and ended with a crash so loud he may have gone deaf.
1. Chapter 1

_** candy-of-doom** - Sanji is buried deep underground in a small cave, his only way back blocked with rocks. He's smoking his last cigarette._

_This isn't happy._

_Warning for major character death._

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><p>Dark. Everything was completely dark. So dark he couldn't make out his feet, his hands, or the nose on his face.<p>

He leaned against the recently formed wall of rock. It had started with a slight quake and ended with a crash so loud he may have gone deaf. He might have though he had, given the silence, but he could still hear the sound of his own breathing; air rushing in and out through his nose and mouth in an ever more gasping and desperate pattern.

Somewhere on the other side of this wall, Sanji hoped his nakama were not suffering the same fate. He'd tried calling for them, screaming to the sound proof wall, wasting precious oxygen, but if they heard him, he hadn't received a reply.

He pulled his last cigarette from his pack. Already it was hard to breathe; the air this with the acrid smell of his previous cigarettes still hung thick in the air, having not dissipated at all in the air tight space.

He'd been an idiot to smoke them, an idiot to spend so much time shouting for his nakama, and now his minutes were numbered.

What harm was one last cigarette at this point?

He had a hard time getting the match to light; even fire couldn't breathe in this confined space. He managed after several tries, sparking a fire that hardly had any flame to it. He was quick to light the end of his cigarette before it finally fizzled out.

A throbbing in his left leg reminded him it was there. That was slightly comforting, he hadn't been able to feel the right one in quite some time. He'd attempted to free himself from his prison when he'd first been trapped; another wasted effort. Something had happened then, something that felt as if he'd lit his legs on fire, before the right finally went numb and the left subsided to a throbbing ache.

He was glad he couldn't see them.

He was dizzy now. The nicotine from his last cigarette seemed much more potent without oxygen hanging around. Every drag from the small stick hit him hard like one of Zoro's weights.

He couldn't see straight. Not that he could see at all in the blank darkness, but he could feel the spinning in his head begin to upset his balance.

His eyes grew heavy. So heavy he could no longer see straight. Small stars and bursts of color flashed before his open eyes, and he was overcome with the strong desire to close them and see only darkness again. He'd wait patiently on his nakama, surely they'd be along soon to free him of his trap.

The spent cigarette fell from his slack mouth, and with that last spark of hope in his nakama, Sanji closed his eyes for good.


	2. Chapter 2

_Anonymous asked: what about a continuation for the 'buried alive sanji'? But in Zoro's POV and about 20 minutes after Sanji's death? :D_

_This is really not happy._

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><p>Zoro's foot bumped against something, something that clanged metallic and didn't quite fit in with the stone of the cave. He raised his lantern a little higher to cast some light on the foreign object.<p>

The dim light of his lantern shined over dull metal and broken glass. At one point it had been one of their lanterns, but now it was broken beyond repair.

Zoro looked around, surely if their lantern was here, one of the others was too. He'd felt the ground shake a bit earlier, perhaps one of his nakama had dropped it then? He shuddered to think about what they were doing now. This cave was pitch black without any light, surely they weren't stumbling around in the endless night, right?

Well if it were Luffy…

There was a dead end just ahead. Zoro shined his light on the wall, looking at it curiously. It looked different from the rest of the cave, not as smooth as the tunnels Zoro had been following to this point. Almost as if it had been recently formed…

The sudden thought sparked panic through Zoro's system and he wasted no time cutting threw the rocky wall. His swords clanged angrily against the stone, but he refused to relent until he finally reached the space beyond.

The smell that struck him first was both familiar and sinister. The scent of cigarettes that Zoro would have recognized anywhere, but staler, almost rotten smelling. Not the fresh smell of cigarettes Zoro was accustomed to smelling in the galley, but something older and more contained.

Zoro sheathed his sword and raised his lantern to light the path beyond. There wasn't much path to light, the cave reached an actual dead end just beyond the newly formed wall.

But Zoro wasn't paying attention to the shape of the cave any more. Shining yellow hair had caught his attention instead. Golden colored strands Zoro would have recognized anywhere, leaning against the stone wall Zoro had just cut through. Had he cut any lower he would have taken the bastards head off, but Sanji hadn't even bothered to move.

"Oi, Cook," Zoro called his attention. "What are you doing, idiot?"

Sanji didn't move though, and Zoro's concern pulled him into the small cave faster than one of Nami's lightening bolts.

His feet were destroyed. Sanji sat with his back to the stone wall, legs stretched out in front of him. His shoes were broken in places, enough to reveal the bloodied, bloated, and purple monstrosities that had once been the cook's greatest weapons.

A cigarette lay extinguished in the fold of his shirt, and Zoro plucked it away to reveal a burn hole in both the shirt and flesh beneath it. Sanji hadn't even seemed to notice.

He could have been sleeping, the way his eyes were so peacefully closed, his jaw slightly slack and his brows relaxed. He looked so at ease. Zoro cupped his cheek in his hand, feeling the smooth flesh, too cold for a healthy body temperature.

He stared at the closed blue eyes, knowing they'd never open again. Knowing he'd never see their light again.

He had been too late.

"I'm sorry," His voice sounded chocked, harsh, and pathetic, but Zoro couldn't contain himself. He couldn't meditate this pain away. "I'm so sorry, Sanji."


End file.
